I fit the internet SJW stereotype to an uncomfortable degree, but I don’t really identify with it (which makes sense, given that it’s a shallow idea of a person designed by people who dislike them).
At the same time, I absolutely do not fulfill the stereotype of the American in Germany, and people are often very surprised when they hear that I am.
Do you fit or break a lot of stereotypes?
I thought I didn’t fit a stereotype, but being a light-skinned male making conversation with the LGBTQ community makes me feel like one. There’s a little imposter syndrome with it, too.
I’m like the worst mix of stereotypes. I’m an uneducated factory worker, but I’m not into anything like sports or cars or anything that would connect with these types of people. I’m a science/video game nerd that likes anime, but I’m not in the slightest bit intelligent or involved in IT and have no interest in “cons” or owning any kind of “toys” that relate to games/anime. I’m anything but “normal” but my aesthetic is “Khols stock photo.” Other “Khols stock photo” people would have no interest in me.
I pretty much don’t belong anywhere lol
I also dress like kohls stock photo and none of my friends do at all. I’m a pothead, but I give off absolute narc vibes :(
We all do. Stereotypes contain kernels of truth, which do define groups to a certain extent. At the same time, no one fits the bill absolutely perfectly. So, it’s all a matter of perspective and standards. Stereotypes provide general rules of thumb that can be just as harmful as they are helpful. Knowing where to stop applying them is the real artistry.
If I do, then it’s in ways I’m totally blind to.
I’m gay but I have to remind even close friends of that fact from time to time lol.
I’m a huge Star Trek nerd, but I can’t quote plot points and episode numbers like bible verses.
I work in IT but I’m far from the as-seen-on-TV geek / graybeard. (thankfully that stereotype is fading away for the most part).
I’m sure there are some stereotypes I fit into that I’m just not aware of, but the ones I am aware of I tend to buck.
I think the word “nerd” got rehabilitated, and was replaced by incel or neckbeard for those even more useless, gross, and uncool than a nerd was ever portrayed to be.
I’m definitely a nerd, but thoughtfulness, optimism and such take me out of the incel or neckbeard category. I just don’t have the blame everyone but myself nihilism outlook.
Good point. I guess I’m a “nerd” in that I like to learn, like to understand the “why” of things, and prefer a good book to a movie, but I was mostly basing “nerd” off of the Hollywood nerd / dork character I grew up watching.
I’d say working in IT as a Star Trek nerd counts as fulfilling one stereotype at least.
To elaborate: I’m a queer leftist vegan with a bisexual partner and I’m not sure of my gender. I’ve got autism, ADHD, and anxiety, and I work part time as a barista in my thirties while very slowly getting a master’s degree in a niche liberal arts field after being unable to find work related to my bachelor’s degree in a related niche liberal arts field. When I was younger, I frequently had blue and/or pink hair, but now I donate my hair, so I don’t dye it anymore; similarly, I’ve had over 15 piercings, but could currently only wear a ring in my septum and maybe my earlobes if I put in some work. I feel very strongly about multiple causes, but do little active protesting.
At the same time, I’m (afab, received socially as a woman, but who knows?) married to a man apprenticing as a butcher, I went back to school after saving up enough money in my role as an adjuster for litigated long tailed claims (basically contract analysis and directing defense strategy), I currently work in my desired field (German language education for new arrivals here in Germany), and I help run a mutual aid group and immigrant support group instead of demonstrating because I’m an immigrant with uncertain status.
I’m very interested in preserving food, handicrafts that help me to be self sufficient, folk dance, and puzzles, but I’m also interested in TTRPGs, mtg, larping, and involved board games. Those groups of activities each fulfill different genres of SJW stereotype (puzzles and larping might work as cross category overlaps), but I also like cycling, rowing, swimming, and lifting weights, which feel like they don’t really fit.
I guess most important would be that I try not to be preachy or judgmental in my daily life and have no reason to believe I don’t succeed- it’s pretty easy to get honest feedback from large groups of students who aren’t expecting my brain to hyperfocus on all spoken English after so long in Germany. Through those aid groups and my husband’s job, I end up giving out about €75 worth of meat a week, which means people are often very surprised that I’m a vegan (but the meat can no longer be sold, though it’s still safe to consume, so there’s no profit going to the butcher, and people buy less meat when they can get it for free, so it reduces demand, so my conscience is clear).
As for being an American in Germany: again, I’m a vegan leftist, but I’ve also mastered German to the degree that I’m a German teacher, and my full married name sounds as bland in Germany as “Katherine Marie Parsons” would in the US.
Jesus, you really do fit most of the stereotypes.
I know… I’m not a dick though?
if you lived in the USA you’d be a dick.
German culture is a lot more chill. germans leave people alone generally. Americans can’t help but get in your face.
I lived in Germany a couple of times and it was glorious because nobody ever talked to me. In the USA people just come up to you and start talking. It’s so weird.
I’m from the USA and I wasn’t a dick there, either. I don’t know why you’d assume I would be, especially as I said that I’m not the stereotypical American. I definitely don’t approach strangers to start conversations and when they do it with me, I respond politely and in a friendly way, but don’t try to drive the conversation into any divisive areas (or really anywhere at all, I try to let conversations with strangers whom I’m not planning a get to know die out as quickly as possible while maintaining friendliness).
yeah, what I notice with those types is they are self-obsessed and kind of project that onto everyone else.
and if you don’t think they are ‘special’ they get really mad and feel like you are invalidating them.
every third person I meet tells me they are autistic/ahdh/socially anxious. it’s just like… wow you’re normal, we get it. i now sporty extroverted and apolitical people who claim those labels now… because they self-diagnosed on the internet…
your obsession with labels is def on par for the streotype of a SJW.
everyone i know who is one IRL is obsessed with labels and labels everyone else and themselves and acts upset if you don’t buy into their labeling nonsense.
I’m not personally big on labels (that’s part of why I’m not sure of my gender- I just don’t really care how people perceive me, so it doesn’t seem like a priority), nor do I ever introduce myself like the above irl. Very few of the people in my life are aware of all of the above, but it’s relevant for the post, so I looked for all the labels that fit.
This isn’t a topic that consumes me, it just occurred to me that I check off a lot of boxes even though I don’t think I seem to.
you’re not ‘big on labels’, but you used like 20 of them in reference to yourself…
you don’t see the hypocrisy here?
but it’s relevant for the post, so I looked for all the labels that fit.
I’m aware of labels, but don’t typically use them, unless they’re relevant, like here. Not sure where you’re seeing hypocrisy, but it seems like you’re reading a lot into this that isn’t there.
I’m.the /r/traa catgirl stereotype
:3
Not much. I am a middle aged white woman, do not ask for the manager or call the police. I fucking love spicy food and all kinds of music, hang out with all sorts of people. My mom used to say my taste in books and movies was that of a teenage boy. Drive a manual 6 speed car when I have to drive. Still tech support for some of my kids and definitely for my husband.
In stereotypical fashion though, I do love a fruity cocktail, use my e-reader to read smut sometimes, and am very good in the kitchen. I do yoga. Love cats!
So maybe an average amount stereotypical?
I typically want to dispell a lot of ridiculous Canadian stereotypes, but I find the opposite happens instead. Case in point:
This is a picture of my father eating cheerios with maple syrup instead of milk.
That sounds delicious though (in small quantities, as he seems to be)
I’m a pretty geeky IT person, who is trans, watches anime, reads manga, and plays WoW.
Yeah I’m basically a walking stereotype at this point 😅
I’m a bit of a walking contradiction! I lean hard into the bimbo aesthetic, but I’m actually very nerdy and into deep, intellectual topics. I’ve also got a materialistic streak while staying pretty down to earth. I guess I fulfill the tropes, but I break them at the same time.
Hedy Lamar?
do you also like sometimes going out, but sometimes staying in?
Yes and no. I am the typical sjw irl cause I can get away with being blunt. I’m gigantic with a shaved head and beard, and whenever I hear somewhere at the bar start in on the typical chud talking points, I immediately address it and let them know they’re a piece of shit (very very red area). I’m a socialist/leftist so I got guns and looking the way I do leads to people telling on themselves at the range. I keep a very robust log of who is not allowed in the commune when the fall happens.
Is there a stereotype about a six foot one Native American man who is a jack of all trades and a techie working in the IT field?
If not, I’d say no then.
Sounds like the mad scientist character trope where the main character finds you in a locked decked out apartment in the middle of the most dangerous destroyed city and you help them escape. (Respectfully)
I do have a lab coat and quite a few interesting electronics.
Unfortunately, all of my Tesla coils are decidedly non-lethal.
But following your second point, I have never been able to get lost in my entire life. I have actively tried to get lost, and somehow I always find my way, suffice it to say, if we are in a bombed out city together, I’m pretty sure I can find us clean water, shelter and other survivors.
I love getting lost sometimes. It’s about impossible for me here, because I have lived in the same place so long. But just wandering can be so cool. I had a friend who could ALWAYS face north, we were doing “pin the tail on the donkey” so blindfolded her, spun her around and around and said go, she unerringly heads right for the correct wall. So we played with making her disoriented and saying which way is north, she cannot lose it, is anchored even blind & dizzy.
I don’t think I’m that accurate. Like, I can’t find North always, but if I have been in situations where I wake up in a vehicle and I only have a general idea of where we are and where we’re going, and I know how to get the rest of the way without needing to consult a map.
There was also a time when me and my friends went walking through the woods in a local park and they got lost and I was like guys just keep following me we’ll get there and like 45 minutes later we found the road and we’re able to make it back to our cars.
They were freaking out, and I was like, why are you freaking out? We’re less than an hour away from our car.
I have never been able to get lost in my entire life.
Found the stereotype.
Damn it
I mean, I do think a true jack of all trades would be good with tech and IT and would probably seek out work with a high level of variation (which IT could be, depending on what you’re doing), but I don’t necessarily align that with or against being Native American or 6’1”.
Nope, not even close. Wish I did in some cases.
I probably break a lot of stereotypes, or maybe I don’t?
I’m a woke leftist who grew up “poor” (United States) in a rural farm area, yet I wasn’t a farmer, and had two college educated parents.
My roots are redneck, I grew up eating hunted game and surrounded by corn fields and forests.
I watch Democrats where I live now mock rural people, which is a shame. You should mock their bigotry and their stupid ideas, but you shouldn’t mock their existence or scorn all things rural.
These people are the downtrodden workers we’re supposed to stand for, they just need to be reached with the right messaging to break the chains of decades of propaganda and education, but no one really seems to want to do that.
I’ve always been a misfit, didn’t fit in with the red necks, but I don’t fit in with the cultured people, I guess I am the intersection of two borderzones of American culture, and it kind of fucking sucks.
People make tons of assumptions about me from first glance, but I don’t even know where I fall on half of the scales of sexuality and gender, I’m just me - I like to dance, I like good music, I to look at beautiful versions of the human form.
Thanks for reading.
Man, I was raised super conservative in a town on the east coast. Now I’m a leftist. The distaste of undereducated, poor, rural people breaks my heart. These people are some of the hardest workers in the country and so much of our society relies on their labor. There’s no reason to look down on them. I hate the ignorance and conservative views, but when you’ve been fed propaganda your entire life and your community is full of like minded people it’s really hard to break out of it. I don’t get why leftists don’t try harder to reach them. Yes, it’s hard, because those beliefs are deep rooted, but some people can be educated. I’ve talked to people that say they won’t talk to people with super conservative or harmful religious beliefs because “there’s no changing them”. My response to that is always that you don’t have to argue or be hostile, but I was raised very conservative and if no one ever presented me with different viewpoints, gently challenged my beliefs, or educated me on facts that were hidden from me, I never would have started doing the thinking and the research I needed to change my worldview. I’d probably be a die-hard MAGA tradwife right now instead of being a single woman with a career who is also one of the most left leaning people most Americans will meet IRL.
you sound like you belong in one of those leftist small cities they have in the midwest.
the coastal elite leftists would eat you alive. they hate poor people more than anything else.
Yeah I live amongst a lot of coastal elites, they don’t get it at all.
Spouse and I have Michigan as one of our five year plan possibilities!
i went to Harvard and i come from a poor family that is uneducated.
I’ve regularly had interactions where I was told I should kill myself my entire adult life but supremely bitter rich kids who are super angry I’m smarter/more driven than they are. basically only made friends with international students because they didn’t care about how rich my parents were.
But I like living in a big city, so I just suck it up. There are no people like me here. They all got priced out, but I make enough to afford it and I ‘pass’ but as soon as anyone finds out my upbringing they HATE me. It’s so bizarre how much resentment they have towards poor people. The whiplash of ‘oh you went to HARVARD you must be so AMAZING’ to ‘you poor rural piece of shit you should just die’ is wild.
I didn’t go to Harvard, but I hear you words - I don’t have an accent or sound uneducated so I get “passing”.
I think because of it we see the worst - we see their scorn without any kind of filter, why would you hold back if you’re talking to someone who isn’t a part of that class?
There are more of us out there!
Probably not. I like muscle cars, baseball, beer, and rock music, and I despise the orange pedonazi and any of his followers.
